Dipole antennas for use on hand held radios, personal computers, telephones, and the like are known. These antennas, especially when used on hand held radios, must be of a rugged design, because portable radios are sometimes exposed to extremely rough handling, including being dropped on the antenna or being held and swung by the antenna. Thus, such antennas must be capable of withstanding repeated flexing with no mechanical or electrical damage ensuing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,873 discloses a center fed dipole antenna system. The system provides a center fed coaxial cable transmission line, a second radiating element connected to the center conductor of the coaxial cable through a feed line connector within the second radiating element, and a first radiator element connected to the outer conductor of the coaxial cable. The first radiator element is connected to the outer conductor through a jumping cable to a braided hollow cylinder which is further connected to a metal coil to create the first radiating element.
The problem to solve with the present invention is to provide an ultra-flexible dipole antenna able to withstand at least 30,000 cycles of bending the antenna at plus or minus ninety degrees.
Another problem to solve with the present invention is to provide a durable ultra-flexible dipole antenna that provides strain relief to cable that is flexed in a flexible antenna, since a center fed cable in an antenna often breaks, when the antenna is flexed, before any of the other components of the antenna break.